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Waking Ned Devine

Waking Ned Devine

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: "A Toast to Ned Devine"
Review: WAKING NED DEVINE is a delightful Irish film sure to tickle your funny bone in one way or the other. The story revolves around two old friends who figure out someone in their small village (population 52) has won the national lottery. After several failed attempts at uncovering who the lucky person is, they discover the winner to be the big-hearted Ned Devine. The only problem is that Ned is dead; dying from the shock of winning such a fortune. A plan is put into action, that eventually involves the entire town.

The humor in this film speaks on many levels from dark comedy (the tragic death of the town witch) to physical sight gags (naked skinny old man on motorcycle). There is a little bit of romance, but nothing that takes away from the film's playful structure. Not only that, there is also a moral to the story, one of family and friendship; no man is an island. But I bet John Donne never imagined his message this way.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: charming
Review: An absolute glitter of a film set in the small Irish town of Tullymore, it stars absolutely brilliant actors ,David Kelly and Ian Bannen. This is such a charming movie that its a surprise why it wasn't as big as Full Monty. With such lovely photography and very good characters its almost sinful if one doesn't get involved. A movie full of heart and soul, a great example that for a film to be good, big stars and bang bang fast plots arent necessary.

Micheal and Jackie are two old down on their luck irish sods who live in the small irish village of Tullmore( pop 52). a rumour in town of a local lotto winner sets these two on their feet and off to heartwarming journey to get the winnings. A cute subplot on the side, the romance of Pig Finn, a local pig farmer and another farmer's daughter is also a delight to watch.

David Kelly steals the movie with the motorcycle run and his constant twitchings and gleaming irish old eyes.

This is a gem.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Most Memorable Movie!
Review: This movie is a real sleeper. Just when you think you don't care about getting to know the characters during the first 15 minutes, you realize you just have to wait to take that potty break until it's over. The acting, scenery, music, and story line are all quite memorable. Watching more than once gives you the pleasure of noticing the details with more hilarity each time. We loved this movie so much, an annual St. Patrick's Day party is planned around it. Like a cult-classic movie, we have the same food, drink, lotto drawing, and movie trivia games. It's a must see.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Delightful
Review: I never get tired of this film or it's music (and I rarely go for soundtracks, but I picked up this one). Leonard Maltin's movie book calls this a "slight" film but I find it huge on charm and heart. It's a well-paced, old-fashioned caper story in which all but two residents (approximately 52 to begin with) of an impoverished remote rural Irish village conspire to collect the big lottery when their old pal, Ned Devine, has died in the excitement of learning he's won. Of the two exceptions, one is the head priest who is conveniently out of town when the story is set in motion and the other is a humorless old crone who threatens to tattle. You can't help but cheer on the chicanery in a film where the humor ranges from the black to the silly to the sentimental. Seems to me the only person who will not be won over by this movie is a humorless old crone. The scenery is stunning.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A warm, humane Irish romp
Review: The lush, rolling green fields of Ireland and its lovely villages provide the idyllic setting for this warm, humane little comedy, which is about what happens when an old man wins nearly eight million pounds on the Lottery and then dies from the excitement with the winning ticket still in his hand.

Two old villagers, Jackie O'shea (Ian Bannen) and Michael O'Sullivan (David Keller) learn from the papers that someone in their small village of only 52 inhabitants has won the Lottery; and their efforts to find the winner occupies the first part of the film. When they eventually do so and call on Ned and find his dead hand still clutching the winning ticket, they have to decided what to do; to be honest and hand the ticket back or to take advantage of the situation and pretend one of them is Ned. The temptation is irresistible.

But, not being selfish, they want the whole village to share in Ned's good fortune. And so they hold a village meeting and put forward their plan; provided that each villager will sign a form committing them to secrecy, the money will be shared out and each will receive £150,000. But some quick thinking is required and many lies and evasions follow when a representative of the Lottery comes to the village to verify the claim and the claimant's identity and arrives in the middle of Ned's funeral service and Jackie O'shea's funeral oration. And their plan is under threat from another quarter; the evil-minded witch of the village demands £1000,000 in hush money!

There is a nice little love interest in which James Nesbitt as Pig Finn is excellent as as pig-man, too poor and smelling too much of pig to be thought at all desirable by his beloved. £150,000 would see them both right.

But it is Ian Bannen as Jackie O'Shea, still full of his usual energy and Joie de vivre, who is central to the film and raises it so well above the average. How sad that he should die so soon after the film's completion. At least he went out on a high note and left us with a memorable performance.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: OCCASIONALLY CHARMING, MISCHIEVOUS "IRISH" ROMP
Review: The movie hinges on a winning lottery ticket that belongs to one of the 52 inhabitants of remote Irish island of Tulaigh Mhor (pronounced Tully More; in fact, shot on the English, Isle of Man). Two old codgers (Ian Bannen and David Kelly) skulk around town to discover the winner. It turns out to be their friend Ned who had died of a heart attack upon learning the good news. Reasoning that Ned, who had no relatives, would have wanted them to have his winnings, Jackie and Michael decide to pretend that one of them is Ned Devine, to collect the prize.

Ultimately, every resident of Tulaigh Mhor participates in the plot, with one notable exception, the fierce and nasty Lizzy Quinn (Eileen Dromey). A predictable scheme to keep the 6 million pound jackpot ensues. This becomes the launching pad for an onslaught of stereotypical sometimes condescending scenes characterizing the characters as Irish by being old or naked or drunk or smelly or slow-witted or various combinations of the above. Ridicule and humor are interchanged with some regularity by this film.

There's a good deal of black humor, including some shenanigans with Ned's dead body. The scenery is stunning. Character development is a bit thin. Music is stereotypical. All in all, this is an occasioanlly charming, mischievous stereotyped country Irish-bumpkin romp. Although I found myself entertained by this movie I somewhat scolded myself for that because exploiting Irish stereotypes for a laugh just isn't being kind or decent.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Delightful
Review: A very funny irish movie. It is a VERY welcome change to hear accents that are not American...I love the Irish and British films and this one was no exception. A delight for the whole family.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Waking Ned Devine
Review: Delightful! Humorous plot to rescue a winning lottery ticket for the villagers of Tulaigh Mohr. If you want to relax and smile a bit, you won't be disappointed. Right up there with THE FULL MONTY and BENNY AND JOON for leaving you feeling good.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Hilarious, Brilliant!
Review: This movie really inspired me.......it showed me that there was some intelligent humor out there. Don't get me wrong, I like movies like "Dumb and Dumber" as much as the next but this is a definate winner on my card. The movie starts out in a small village in Ireland. Jackie O'Shea and his wife read in the newspaper that someone in their small village has a winning lotto ticket, and they aren't going to let this chance get away. Their plan is to pamper the winner so that he is almost obligated to share the winnings. They later find that the winner, Ned Divine, had died of excitement once he had found out that he had won. I will say no more though because I would not want to ruin this "Divine" movie for you. Good luck shopping/browsing everyone!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Unpleasent Brittish Humor
Review: Not at all too pleased with this film. I didn`t find anything humorous about two greedy men who find Ned Devine a recent winner of the lottery dies of apparent shock when he found out he won. So the two men go out of their way to claim the money. Ridulcous and obvislouy the producers wanted to cash in on the surprising sucess of THE FULL MONTY and failed misrably. I must say this is the worst Brittish comedy i ever saw, not that there is any really good Brittish comedies out there. Most of them are dull and boring and this one is no exception.


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